I seem to spend a lot of my time hunting around for various bits and bobs that either I, or my children need or things for Guides, which I am often not looking to use for their original purpose which can make disturbing the items harder.

This weeks lists was

A practise drum pad for Gregor, he has just started drum lessons, from the TISA music academy. He wants to get a full drum kit straight away but we want to a) protect our ears as long as we can and b) see that he really wants to learn to play the drums and will practise. This was probably the hardest item to find this week, but we eventually tracked one down in a music shop in the Baku Outlet Mall (at the bus station). Electra just fancied being in the photo.

A cheap keyboard, Katrine and I have started singing lessons, so I need something to be able to tap out the tune and rhythm to sing to. I don’t need anything fancy or particularly good, so I’m happy with this. It cost 70azn (£43 at today’s exchange rate), from a music shop in Sederek (row 12). Cheap and cheerful and does the job.

A giant bag of polyester stuffing. This is to make Liquorice a dog bed (which he is currently using curled up at my feet). Katrine made herself some curtains – well she got some ikea curtains, cut them to size and added heading tape, which I count as making curtains. Which left a large bit of material left over, just perfect for a dog bed. Here is the finished article and the dog being very happy sleeping on it.

4 mini BBQs for my Guide unit. We are going to have a fire skills meeting (we are thrown out of our regular meeting place for a week as there is a volleyball tournament), the girls will have to light their our fires in small groups with no firelighters or starter fluid. They will then toast their marshmallows to make s’mores. Plus we can use this to cook on when we camp in the summer.